CAMBODGE 2

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It is advisable to adhere to the rules of supply and demand when in Cambodia which, contrary to logic, dictates that the less the customer demand the higher the price you pay. Accommodation is reasonably priced and generally of a very high standard but transport works out at about four times the amount you expect to pay in Thailand or Laos. Considering Cambodias infrastructure is not nearly as advanced as the former all in all it's a bit of a rum deal. Despite this it is still well worth the $13 it takes to see Bakor National Park. Resting on the edge of a plateau some 1000 metres above sea level there nestles a ruined town that was once the playground for French colonists before it was evacuated around the time of the Khmer uprising. The view of the surrounding Cambodian coastline is impressive to say the least. The feeder town for such a jaunt is Kampot. Once renowned for its high quality pepper there is little now that marks it out. Despite its commercial isolation the residents are by no means hostile and walking the dimly lit streets at night is akin to finding yourself on the set of the 80's horror flick 'Vamp'.

This is Asia. Phnom Penh - total mayhem. A million motorcycles jostling for position. Lorry with widescreen visor, elevated bicycle taxis and a minor crash every couple of minutes spent meandering around this insane city.
You feel very postcolonial here. Drinking in the local journalist haunt FCC you half expect this city to burst into civil war at any moment. Of course it doesn't and given the energy levels of local city folk it is unlikely it ever will. Still, it's a strange atmosphere that pervades this most Asian of cities. The taxi drivers sleep in hammocks on the street and on every corner lies a mosquito net with some cacooned Khmer dormant within. Brassy street urchins constantly assaulting you - off the beaten track one does little venture. A strange dichotomy then. In the most evidently poor of the three South Asian nations I have visited it is here that I find my tourism the subject of the most organisation and expense. The killing fields, the Khmer Rouge prison 'S-21' are to be seen at a price and for $20 I am more than welcome to visit the local firing range and release a cache of ammunition from a AK-47 semi automatic machine gun.

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